Narthecium ossifragum, Huds. Com- Carex filiformis, L. Loch Pellack.

Frequent; Errie, Brachypodium sylvaticum, R. & S.

XXIII. A Journey in 1867 from Monte Video to San Jorge, in the centre of Uruguay, with Remarks on the Vegetation of the Country. Plate VI. By Dr DAVID CHRISTISON.

(Read March 1878.)

The republic of Uruguay, better known in South America as the Banda Orientál,* has been less investigated by naturalists than might have been expected, particularly in recent times, when the ease of communication between Monte Video and Europe is considered. The ordinary traveller, in search of health, amusement, or adventure, has treated it with equal neglect, insomuch that only the southern portion of the republic, comprising not more than a sixth part of its extent, has hitherto been described; and and it is to the admirable accounts by D'Orbigny and Darwin of their investigations in these southern districts, early in the century, that we must still turn for nearly all the information, whether of a general or scientific nature, that is to be found about the country. The uniformity of configuration which is known in a general way to be characteristic of Uruguay may partially account for this neglect, as when a portion of such a country has been in

The accented syllable has been marked in this and other local words in which the accent is not evident, or is commonly misplaced in this country.

vestigated there is some excuse for thinking that the sample may stand for the whole; but probably a more powerful reason may be found in the frequent wars and revolutions which, in common with all its sister Spanish republics, have sorely afflicted the Banda Orientál. These, with the legacies of chronic violence and disorder left behind by them, have in all probability checked the ardour of European travellers, as they have apparently crushed every effort at scientific research on the part of the natives. Revolutionary disturbances, however, have undoubtedly been less frequent and less serious of late years; and although even in ordinary times homicide is perhaps more common in the rural districts of Uruguay than in any other country with pretensions to civilisation, travelling is by no means so hazardous as might be supposed, because the deeds of violence committed by the half-civilised Gauchos do not, in the great majority of instances, depend on greed or the love of plunder, but on old political or family feuds and hasty quarrels among themselves, with all which the English stranger has no concern, and from which it is generally easy to keep himself clear by the exercise of ordinary prudence. Having made a voyage on account of my health to Buenos Ayres, and while residing there, in the autumn of 1867, I received an invitation from my friend Dr George Fair, to accompany him to the Estancia of San Jorge, owned by his brothers and himself, and situated in the centre of the Banda Orientál. I gladly availed myself of the opportunity to visit a district so entirely new to me, and under such favourable conditions. But the expedition was designed to be a short one, and without any scientific object. It was only when detained at the Estancia much longer than originally intended, by an attack of dysentery, that my thoughts were directed, by way of pastime, to the natural history of the district. Although feeble health and the want of a special training in the natural sciences combined to restrict my ambition within very moderate limits, I hoped at all events, among other things, to have made a tolerably complete collection. of the flora of the district. My strength, however, proved unequal to the task. I was unable to gather the spring flora, and the meagre result of my efforts was a small

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collection of the autumn plants, which I should have hesitated to exhibit to the Society, and still more to offer as a contribution to the University Herbarium, were it not that the district from which they come has not hitherto, I believe, been ransacked by botanists, and that the Herbarium is almost entirely destitute of specimens from the countries which border the River Plate.

Passing over without remark the voyage from Buenos Ayres to Monte Video, and these two great cities being now so well known that it would be quite out of place to give any account of them, I proceed to describe the appearance of the country, and the general character of its vegetation, as the traveller goes northwards from Monte Video. Before reaching the true "Campos," which constitute the great characteristic mass of the country, two cultivated zones must be traversed, which deserve a passing notice. The first, extending a few miles into the country, includes the "Quintas," or country seats and gardens of the wealthier inhabitants of Monte Video, and the market gardens which supply the city with fruits and vegetables; the second, three or four leagues in width, is mainly devoted to agriculture.

In the first of these zones a great variety of fruits and vegetables are cultivated, but the stranger will look in vain for much that is new or peculiar to America. Nearly everything is familiar, and of European origin. The fruits which attain the greatest perfection are pears,-rivalling in size and flavour the very finest grown in France or Jersey,-peaches, melons, and figs. Peaches are so abundant as to be a staple article of diet with the masses. The fruit is large and has a fine aroma, but I always found it hard and deficient in flavour as compared with our own. However, all true patriots in the regions of the River Plate vehemently maintain the superiority of their peaches, and it is only now, when safe at home, that I venture to express my preference for a raw turnip. It is not for its fruit alone that the peach is valued in South America. On the south side of the Plate at least it is much used as fuel. In former years the naked plains of Buenos Ayres furnished no better substitutes for firewood than the dung of animals or some of the more fibrous weeds of the country, but now nearly every house in that province has its grove

of peaches, grown not so much for the sake of the fruit as to provide fuel for the inhabitants. Soil and climate in the temperate parts of South America seem singularly favourable to the growth of the peach-tree, both when planted in the open plains, where in three years it attains sufficient size to be cut for firewood, and in the woods, where it shows a great tendency to spread spontaneously. D'Orbigny found whole woods of it growing in lat. 27° near the old Jesuit mission stations, and as far south as lat. 40° he saw it flourishing in the valley of the Rio Negro; while on the western side of the continent, in Chili, and the temperate parts of Peru and Bolivia, it was equally common.

The orange, although rarely producing good fruit, perhaps from carelessness and want of attention in its cultivation, shows the same disposition to run wild and become naturalised. The Spanish traveller Azara noticed nearly a century ago its strong tendency to spread in the woods; he describes the orange groves as very dense, and allowing nothing but young oranges to spring anew from the soil beneath them, although the large trees of the original forest were still mingled here and there with the groves. D'Orbigny, speaking of both the orange and the peach, remarks that it is difficult to form an idea of the rapidity with which they have multiplied, without the least aid from cultivation, in the islands of the Parana which are not subject to inundation.

The gardens and fields near Monte Video are generally fenced with hedges of Cactus, Agave, or Ñapindai (Acacia bonariensis, Gill), a plant with rather showy, white or buff coloured tufts of flowers, which from the resemblance of its strong recurved thorns to the claws of a cat, has earned the popular name of "Uña de gatto." Some of the Agave hedges continue for upwards of a mile without a break, and grow to such a height as to shut out the view on both sides of the road, presenting a stiff and monotonous aspect, not much relieved by the flowering stems which rise every here and there to a height of from 12 to 20 or even 24 feet. Yet single specimens, standing freely in old neglected hedges, are exceedingly handsome. The elegant flowering stem, which in the course of a few weeks shoots up to a height of upwards of 20 feet, is sure to attract admiration; but equally interesting, although less con